Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nineteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, eleven have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $131.4545.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on EXE shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Expand Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Expand Energy from $112.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. William Blair downgraded shares of Expand Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $134.00 price target (up from $133.00) on shares of Expand Energy in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Expand Energy from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th.

Insider Activity

In other Expand Energy news, CEO Michael Wichterich acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $88.90 per share, with a total value of $88,900.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 85,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,600,772.20. The trade was a 1.18% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Marcel Teunissen acquired 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $96.43 per share, with a total value of $192,860.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer owned 9,144 shares in the company, valued at $881,755.92. This represents a 28.00% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 4,000 shares of company stock valued at $375,120. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Expand Energy

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of EXE. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Expand Energy by 161.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,959,335 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,695,520,000 after acquiring an additional 9,856,576 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Expand Energy by 36,574.9% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,420,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,172,000 after acquiring an additional 2,414,311 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Expand Energy by 94.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,498,905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $493,890,000 after acquiring an additional 2,188,422 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Expand Energy by 192.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,286,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $362,683,000 after acquiring an additional 2,160,979 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dragoneer Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in Expand Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $145,633,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.93% of the company’s stock.

Expand Energy Stock Up 0.0%

EXE opened at $88.48 on Tuesday. Expand Energy has a twelve month low of $86.37 and a twelve month high of $126.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $93.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $102.31. The company has a market cap of $21.17 billion, a PE ratio of 6.60 and a beta of 0.33.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.61 by $0.22. Expand Energy had a net margin of 22.53% and a return on equity of 10.26%. The firm had revenue of $4.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Expand Energy will post 8.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Expand Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a dividend of $0.575 per share. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. Expand Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.15%.

Expand Energy Company Profile

Expand Energy Corporation is an independent natural gas producer principally in the United States. Expand Energy Corporation, formerly known as Chesapeake Energy Corporation, is based in OKLAHOMA CITY.